Quote:
Originally Posted by Crawford
I don't understand why some folks are pretending that there is no difference between a suburb with a pre-automobile core and one without such a core.
Again, Bellevue has a downtown, and Southfield doesn't. This means it has a base of walkability, modestly-sized streets, and transit orientation. The fact that Bellevue didn't "start taking off" until the 50's, like 90% of suburbs out there (regardless of whether they have a downtown) is irrelevent.
All the New Urbanist development in Bellevue is in downtown Bellevue, which built on the existing base of pre-sprawl infrastructure. They have a Main Street upon which the city is centered. Southfield shares none of these characteristics and is centerless.
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Bellevue's pre-WWII "main street" urbanism is about as large and close to its downtown CBD area as many of the suburban Toronto Growth Centres that you like to put down, ex Mississauga & Cooksville, Markham & Unionville, Midtown & Downtown Oakville... really only Vaughan Centre is significantly more isolated from pre-WWII urbanism.